ACORD Releases Single Business Data/Information Dictionary

The first component of the ACORD Standards Framework, an initial content release (ICR) of the Single Business Data/Information Dictionary, has been made available by the standards organization. The dictionary was one of the objectives outlined in the ACORD Standards Strategy announced in March.

The dictionary brings together insurance business terms from three ACORD domain standards (life and annuity, property and casualty/surety, and reinsurance/large commercial); the business terms from the IBM intellectual property contribution; and a portion of the harmonized data dictionary released by ACORD, eEG7, and CSIO last year.

The first release of the dictionary contains more than 10,000 identified business terms, definitions, and mappings. Where possible, there has been a preliminary data harmonization to a single element name and definition for concepts such as coverage, party, or claim. The goal is to issue the full harmonized dictionary in the third quarter for validation and review by the membership.

The dictionary provides the technology neutral common vocabulary for the insurance industry and is the most critical component for interoperability with other standards organizations and proprietary company architectures. The dictionary is based upon the UN/CEFACT core components approach.

"The ACORD Standards Framework is a way for our members to enhance their existing architecture and standards implementations while building business architectures that provide a consistent enterprise and industry view," says Denise Garth, vice president, membership and standards for ACORD. "The release of the Business Data/Information Dictionary is a crucial step to providing a common business vocabulary and lays the foundation for the development of other components."